Supporting working-class students in Higher Education: Developing Your Class-Conscious Practice

In their new book, Nadine Cavigioli, Stacey Mottershaw and Rachael O'Connor place a spotlight on the classism inherent in higher education.

Their book highlights the realities that working-class students face when navigating elite higher education spaces, as well as the rewards and challenges of supporting these students in such spaces.

Drawing on the life experiences of academics of working-class heritage and a Student Advisory Board, each chapter is positioned around a ‘myth’ which is debunked with examples, practice, student perspectives, and research. Alongside this, the book serves as a support mechanism for practitioners to learn from working-class experiences in order to improve their own practice and be able to support their working-class students through the exploration of an intersectional, class-conscious pedagogy.

This ground-breaking book will support and enhance the practice of anyone with a role that engages with or impacts upon the lives and experiences of historically excluded students, whether directly through teaching, pastoral and administrative support, or indirectly through leadership, governance, and policy-making.

A book launch at Headingley Heart Centre

The book was launched on Tuesday 9 December 2025 with a variety of thoughtful sessions.

Image credit: Buttercrumble

Class Communitas: Finding community in and through working-class research

In this session the co-authors of Supporting Working-Class Students in Higher Education: Developing Your Class-Conscious Practice introduced the context for writing the book, reflected on what they had learned from the experience, and outlined their hopes for what others may take away from reading it. They went into how they recruited working-class academic contributors for each chapter, as well as a Student Advisory Board. They also shared how there was a ‘seepage’ – whereby everything they worked on seeped into other areas of their work. When talking about what they wanted people to take from the book, they talked about how ‘imposter syndrome’ as a concept needs to shift focus from students overcoming it, to dismantling the culture that creates 'imposter syndrome’ within universities.

Student panel

During this session, three members of the Student Advisory Board shared their experiences of contributing to the research that underpinned the book. They spoke about learning how their identities as students intersected with their working-class identities, touching on painful pressures, not being able to choose what they really wanted to study and instead moving towards ‘respected professions’, having to change their accents and behaviour from ‘informal’ to ‘formal’, a sense of drift from their working-class identities, the feeling that everyone else was more informed and articulate, and being a ‘square peg in a round hole’. They also spoke about what they learned on the project, such as discovering that working-class academics exist, and there are people who want to make a change; that they don’t feel alone in being working class; and noticing how class comes across in niche or subversive ways.

More than a Barrier: Class identity, capital, and success in HE – Dr Asha Akram

Dr Asha Akram is one of the book’s working-class academic contributors. Her activity was a space for sharing, validating, and empowering working-class students and staff in Higher Education. She opened a candid discussion on the experience of class consciousness and the unique barriers working class people within HE have faced – from imposter syndrome to navigating institutional norms.

 

Story Circles: What does your accent mean to you? – Professor Tony Crowley

This session aimed to uncover how accents shape belonging, identity, and perception, while fostering empathy and understanding across diverse experiences.

Our Voices, Our Stories: Songwriting as a method in HE – Nysha Chantel Givans

Nysha Chantel Givans is one of the book’s working-class academic contributors. This final, 45-minute workshop invited participants to explore songwriting as a creative method for storytelling and self-expression within Higher Education. The workshop encouraged sharing, reflection, and community-building, highlighting songwriting as a powerful tool for empowerment, belonging, and finding one’s voice in academic spaces.

Calls to action

The day finished with a reflection of the day: an appreciation of the term ‘trespasser’ rather than ‘imposter syndrome’; a sense that people were playing on a playing field that was never built for them; and a need to dismantle the systemic barriers that prevent people from participating. There was a strong sense that coming together is important; there were more than 50 people that joined throughout the day, and this underscored a commitment to coming together as a powerful group.

Image credit: Buttercrumble

The book can be found in the University of Leeds library here.    

If you would like to buy the book from Routledge, there is a current 20% discount code until the end of the year: 25SMA4.